


Entretenir

by brokenhighways



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angsty Schmoop, Beach House, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Ocean, merman, non human character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:09:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2493905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared inherits a beach house from his aunt, along with a cryptic note that says <i>Look after J; he’ll be lonely now that I’m gone</i>. After deciding to take a sabbatical, he moves into the beach house. It’s only when he reaches the house that he realises that J is actually a cranky, sarcastic and smoking hot <i>merman</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Entretenir

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalypsobean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/gifts).



> Entretenir - to look after, support, foster, keep alive. I’ve had this tucked away for a long time, so thank you to K for inspiring me to finish it!

When Jared’s Aunt Jodie died, something in his chest curled up and began to _ache_. She’d moved up to her beach house in some tropical location a few years back, meaning that Jared had been far too busy with work to visit as much as he liked to. She wasn’t his biological aunt, just a friend of his mothers who seemed to take a shine to him when he’d been a kid. She’d read him stories, babysat him, taught him how to swim, how to drive. It’s not to say that he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents, they’d just always been busy; the same way that Jared is now. Aunt Jodie had often scolded him for that, she told him all the time that he needed to _live_ his life, and not just sit behind a desk for ten hours for the sake of money. Jared had put all she said in the back of his mind, and promised that one day he’d do what she said, he’d go out and explore and _live_.

Of course, now it was too late for him to share any of that with her.

-

Jared didn’t attend the will reading, but her son, James contacted him later to inform him that he’d been left the beach house. He sounded friendly on the phone, and Jared assumed that there were no hard feelings.

“Oh, there’s one other thing she left,” James had said, curiosity evident in his tone. “A note that says ‘ _Look after J, he’ll be lonely, now that I’m gone.’ –_ any idea what that’s all about?”

“No,” Jared replied. “I mean, she always said that she wanted a cat. I don’t know if she got one, I hadn’t spoken to her for a few weeks.”

“Dude,” James said sadly. “I haven’t—hadn’t spoken to her for a _year_. What kind of son does that make me?” James was a charity aid worker, a few years younger than Jared and just a couple of years out of college. His job tended to take him all over the world, something that Jodie heartily approved.

“She knew that you loved her,” Jared said gently. “And she was proud of you, she told me that enough times.”

By the end of the call, James doesn’t sound any less troubled, but Jared hoped that his words had helped.

-

Within a month of Aunt Jodie’s death, Jared had taken indefinite leave from work. His superiors did not question him too much; Jared had never been one to take vacations but for some reason the lingering feeling of regret and loss made it hard for him to focus. So he packed a few suitcases, put the key to the beach house on a chain around his neck and booked a plane ticket. Jared called his mom at the airport to tell her what was happening and she seemed disappointed.

She said, “You know that you can talk to me, don’t you?” and even though Jared’s instant thought had been, ‘ _no, not really_ ’, he’d lied and reassured her. There was no point in disappointing her anymore. Some people had an easy relationship with their children and some people didn’t. Maybe one day Jared and his parents could reconnect, but for now, he just wanted to get to the house.

As he boarded his plane, he wondered (for the umpteenth time) who J was.

-

One flight and one rental car ride later, Jared unlocked the door slowly as he took in the smell of salt in the air, and the wave of the leaves as the breeze brushed past them. With a smile, he stepped over the threshold and into the house. It'd been years since he had been here but it looked the same. The slightly crooked frames affixed to the wall in the hall way had remained that way, and it still smelled like fresh pine with a hint of _Febreeze_. The furniture was the same; everything was the same, except for the fact that his Aunt wasn’t here anymore. It made the house feel empty and quiet; in a way that it had never been before. It sent a chill down Jared’s spine.

Deciding to collect his luggage from the trunk later, Jared began to explore and familiarise with the place all over again. Even though it looked the same, he was sure that it’d be different somehow.

Jared’s sneakers slapped against the hardwood floor as he moved towards the back of the house. As he approached, he heard the sound of splashing. The scent of chlorine filled his nostrils and he found himself ambling towards the indoor pool. He’d forgotten that she’d had one installed last year. It was then that Jared realised that he’d heard _splashing_. Someone was inside. He quickened his pace, eyes narrowing as he wondered who was there. Just as he opened the door that led to the pool, something launched out of the water and Jared caught sight of a green, scaled tail that glittered in sunlight. At first the thought that some sort of weird tropical fish had somehow gotten into the house, but then he caught sight of a muscled torso, followed by wet hair swaying in mid-flight. Said torso was attached to the aforementioned tail.

Jared let out (what he was sure was) a very unmanly shriek and promptly passed out.

-

When he came to the first thing Jared saw was a pair of green eyes. They were nice green eyes, and as his vision stopped swimming in front of him, he saw that said eyes were part of a nice face. No, wait. Not just nice, a fucking gorgeous face that Jared really wanted to touch, stroke and—

“Do you mind?” a deep voice said. “If I wasn’t a gentlemerman, I’d slap you with my tail.”

It all came back to Jared pretty quickly once the weird _tail_ was mentioned. The green tail, the way it was attached to some sort of human upper body. Wait…

“Are you a mermaid?” he asked dumbly, sitting up slowly as the guy (or mermaid) backed away from him. Jared was now lying in a deck chair, with no idea how he’d gotten there. He supposed that the mermaid would have carried him but…he didn’t have legs.

Jared looked down. _Legs detected_ , he thought.

“I’m a _merman_ ,” the guy – merman – said dryly. “And you are an intruder who has five seconds to tell me who he is, before I throw you into the sea.”

“My name’s Jared,” Jared said quickly, because what the hell, mermen were real – and violent to boot! There was no point in questioning this person’s existence until he had a lot of alcohol in his system. “This is – _was_ – my Aunt Jodie’s house; she left it to me in her will.”

“Oh,” the merman looked lost for a while, before his eyes narrowed. “A will? What’s that?”

Jared blinked.

“Uh, when someone dies, they leave a document behind – usually with their lawyers – and it has their final requests and who they’re leaving money and assets to,” he explained. The merman’s entire demeanour changed from suspicious to shock.

“ _Dies?_ ” he echoed and Jared swallowed. Shit. “Jodie’s dead? She’s not coming back.”

“I’m sorry,” Jared said because he knew that hearing about it wasn’t a fucking walk in the park, he still had that _ache_ in his chest that he didn’t know how to cure. “It happened just over a month ago; it was a heart attack.”

“I knew that she wouldn’t have just _left_ ,” the merman said. He sounded so hurt and lost that Jared wanted to comfort him. However he wasn’t sure what mermen protocols were in accordance to touching so he held back and looked downwards. “I need to go.”

Jared’s head shot up quickly.

“Wait,” he said, watching as the merman walked towards the edge of the pool. The pool was vast and wide, but it looked tiny compared to beach. “What’s your name?”

“Jensen,” the merman said right before he dived into the pool and the burst out of it again and sailed over the high barrier overlooking the sea, and landed into the ocean blue water with a thunderous splash.

Within seconds the water still and it was as if no one had been there.

-

The next morning Jared found himself waking up with a start in the same deck chair. The lyrical sound of the birds chirping loudly indicated that it was morning. With a weary sigh, he stood gently and stretched the kinks out of his legs. He’d remained on the chair by the pool long after Jensen – who must have been ‘J’ – had left; eventually succumbing to sleep once the exhaustion of his journey had hit him. Jared walked back into the house slowly, making a beeline for the kitchen. He was surprised to see Jensen sitting at the table with a jar of coffee in front of him.

“Are you sniffing a jar of coffee?” Jared asked incredulously.

“I don’t know how to make it,” Jensen said without blinking an eye. “Jodie never let me drink any. She always said that she wasn’t sure if caffeine was harmful to mermaids.”

Jared nodded and remained silent. He could smell the distinct stench of rotting fruit, but the fruit bowl was glaringly empty. It was yet another thing that reminded him that his Aunt was gone.

“She’s really not coming back,” he murmured. He took a seat at the table across from Jensen, who was suddenly scowling at him.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jensen griped.

“You’re kind of catty for a merman,” Jared said and for whatever reason, he found himself smiling.

“I guess that’s what happens when you’re three-hundred and five and the last one of your kind.”

“You’re the last mermaid—sorry, _merman_?”

“Do you make a habit of stating the obvious or are you just slow?” Jensen said and Jared raised an eyebrow. Jensen was grieving, so he’d let it slide. There was a part of Jared that wanted to ask questions, how did Jensen and his aunt meet, how was it that Jensen had legs on land and a tail in water, why was he the last of his kind? But instead he stood and stretched.

“I’m going to grab a shower,” he said, not turning back as he left the room.

+

Jared didn’t see Jensen for two months.

+

When Jensen walked back into life, Jared was slumped on the couch with a game controller in his hand, pretending as though he was having a great time playing by himself. He hadn’t really done much in the past months; except for agree to work from ‘home’ when his boss had called in a panic. That led to him getting the house connected to the internet, installing a satellite dish and ordering a year’s supply of ramen noodles. Even though, Jared was supposed to be on a break, he found that he hadn’t had much to do. Sure, he could swim in the beach, relax on the sand and bask in the sun, but that was only appealing for so long. Work, as dull as it could be, kept him from feeling idle and lonely. He regularly had Skype calls with his friends and family, but always stopped short of inviting them down to stay. Though, Jared was sure that his best friend Chad would probably turn up out of the blue one day.

It didn’t really occur to him that he was fooling himself until he turned and caught sight of Jensen leaning in the doorway. The controller landed right on his barefoot as he recoiled in shock, and Jared swore under his breath.

“Sorry,” Jensen said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

The last person that Jared wanted to see right now was Jensen. Considering the fact that they’d been in each other’s presence for all of two hours, it seemed a little rash. But Jared had a piece of paper in his possession that meant that he’d spent a lot longer than two hours calling out to Jensen. At dawn, when the beach looked huge and grand, and at dusk, everything was a tranquil dark blue, still and sleepy.

But Jensen had never responded. The water hadn’t so much as rippled. Jensen was just gone, and Jared had failed.

“You work too hard,” Jensen said voice low and soft. “I thought you were meant to be on a break.”

“What would you know about it?” Jared snapped as he leant down to rub at the angry, red mark on his foot.

“I know enough,” Jensen said. “Meet me outside in two hours, bring your swimming stuff.”

 _No_ was on the tip of Jared’s tongue but Jensen left the room before he could voice it.

+

Despite Jared’s ire towards Jensen, he found himself waiting on the front step of the house, gazing at the pot plants on one of the windowsills. The leaves were a rich, vibrant green despite the fact that Jared never watered them. The step itself was sand-free despite the fact that he never swept the sand off in the mornings.

It made him stop and think.

+

“You saw me yesterday, didn’t you?” Jared says tiredly when Jensen appeared out of nowhere, still clad in those tiny black trunks of his. Jared’s not being able to fully appreciate the sight said a lot about his mood. Anyway Jared had decided that yesterday was a bad day. The problem with grief was that whenever you thought you’d overcome it, something would send you spiralling over the edge again; stab you in the chest – again. Jared was slowly learning that you never really got over death, never really stopped grieving, you just learned to live with it; learned to accept that you couldn’t change the past. Jared’s undoing the previous day had been an mismatched (if he was being honest) ugly, patchwork quilt that his aunt had been working on. She’d sewn a new square every month and seeing all of the squares that he’d missed out on had burst the proverbial dam.

Once his chest had stopped heaving and the tears had stopped falling, he’d wiped his face off and told himself that at least he’d broken down when no one else was around.

Obviously, he’d been wrong.

“I stop by every day,” Jensen admitted slowly. “Just to see that you’re doing well.”

“I’m fine, as you can see,” Jared said. “So you can go back to your Beach Cave or wherever it is that you go. I don’t need your pity.”

“I’m not here to pity you,” Jensen said. “I’m here to look after you. It’s what your aunt would want. She left me a message. It said—“

“ _—Look after J?”_ Jared couldn’t help interrupting. Jensen gave him an odd look, and then frowned.

“She left me one too,” Jared said.

+

They didn’t say much to each other for a while after that. Jared changed into his swimming shorts. As he rid himself of his shirt, he looked up to see Jensen giving him a furtive glance, as twin spots of pinks appeared on his cheeks. _Huh, mermen can blush_ , he thought, because he didn’t know what else to think. His head was strangely devoid of thought at that point in time. All he could hear was the waves cascading against one another.

“Where are we going?” Jared asked when Jensen beckoned for him to follow. They were heading down the path that led to the beach.

“I want to show you something.” Jensen’s response was short and direct and Jared released a put-upon sigh. What he wanted was to be back on the couch, underneath a half-completed quilt even though it was warm outside. But, Jensen had just admitted that he’d been to see Jared every day, and in a way, Jared couldn’t really be mad at Jensen seemingly ignoring his calls. Maybe Jensen would explain, maybe he wouldn’t. The fact was that he’d been here, in his own way.

All Jared knew was that he could not change the past.

When they reached the edge of the water, Jensen turned to look at him thoughtfully.

“Grab hold of my hand,” he said. “And don’t let go until I tell you to.” He held out a hand and waited. Jared slipped his own into Jensen’s and somehow, he wasn’t surprised by the tingle that flew up his arm, or the way his hand seemed to fit into Jensen’s.

They shared a look. His hazel eyes connecting with Jensen’s hooded green ones.

Jared found himself thinking, _I want to be able to look into your eyes and know what you’re thinking_ right before Jensen propelled them into the water.

+

The second that Jensen’s entire body was encased by the water, his legs moved ferociously and the green tail burst into the water, splashing Jared has it flapped vigorously. Even though the water distorted Jensen’s form a little, Jared was sure that there was smirk on the merman’s face. Jared’s gaze was drawn back to Jensen’s tail, and he barely felt in when Jensen’s shoulder nudged his. He pointed, and Jared saw a bright green light in the distance.

Jared wasn’t sure how long they swam, his arms seemed to tire quickly and his legs weren’t that far off. Jensen sent him a reassuring look, before gripping Jared’s hand tighter and increasing his speed.

+

Jensen tail slowed gently as they approached a pebbled alcove-like structure that was covered in a calm, green light. He pushed Jared forward until his feet landed on the smooth rock, and he stood, eyes watching the - well it _looked_ like a – cave, gaze narrowing in on a small frame on a shelf near the entrance of the cave. It was picture of his aunt.

Jensen had brought Jared to his home.

+

Upon entering Jensen’s cave, it rather clear that things were amiss. While the front had been tidy and orderly, there were shells and pieces of broken driftwood scattered inside the cave. Fish bones littered the floor, and oddly enough there were empty cans of 7 Up liberally spread across the cave.

“What?” Jensen said when Jared directed a raised eyebrow at him. “I like how it tastes.”

Jared merely nodded in response.

“Wait a second,” Jared said aloud suddenly. “I can _breathe_. We’re in the middle of the fucking ocean, but I can _breathe_? What did you do?”

“It’s an ancient spell,” Jensen explained. “Mermen were always quite fond of the human species, so the Higher Gods created a way for us to show humans are homes, our possessions.”

“How many people have you brought here?” Jared said, not even caring about the blatant amazement in his voice. It was like something out of a fairy tale, he found this fascinating. He wanted Jensen to tell him more about the merman culture, and how it was that they came to be…well, _alive_. He wanted Jensen to tell him why he wasn’t freaking out. Why he hadn’t when he’d first seen Jensen. There’d been the minor shock, but after that he’d just accepted that Jensen was a merman. Jared’s bosses always commended his shrewdness – he wasn’t the kind of person who just _accepted_ things.

Jared wanted to ask Jensen for answers, but instead he asked,

“And why does everything look so…messed up?”

“Because I messed it all up,” Jensen said blankly. “One morning, I woke up and stopped cleaning it all up and I trashed the place.”

“Was that the morning after I turned up at the house?”

Jensen shrugged and turned away, shoulders sagging slightly as he bowed his head.

“I saw something private yesterday, I intruded and I didn’t even try and comfort you,” he said. “So I brought you here to show you that you’re not the only one who’s having a hard time with everything. I am too.”

“Thank you,” Jared said. “It means a lot.”

“It better,” Jensen replied with a hint of a smile. “You’re the first human that I’ve brought here.”

Jared wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he turned and busied himself with picking up some carelessly discarded rocks.

+

Helping Jensen neaten his place up felt cathartic almost, like Jensen was humpty dumpty and Jared was putting him back together again. Not that Jensen would have appreciated that comparison. It was also kind of surreal to see Jensen _floating_ in what seemed like thin air while Jared walked around him. Not that Jared considered what he was doing to be _walking_. Sure his feet were moving, right foot forward, left foot forward, but there was no ground. No heavy thuds of his footfalls, just the quiet whisper of the ocean. Thinking about it made Jared feel a little queasy so he promptly stopped. He turned his attention back to the cave. He walked further in, eyes taken in by the various items placed on shelves around the cave. The shelves themselves stood out, they were sleek, mahogany and had a glossy finish. Jared wondered where he'd gotten them from.

"Jodie signed us up for a carpentry class." Jensen’s voice came from behind him and Jared jumped, feet lingering in the air as he floated back down. Jensen's words sank in and Jared stifled a laugh. The thought of his aunt making anything out of planks of wood was hilarious. She was always a menace with a chopping board and a kitchen knife, let alone the kind of tools that she would need for wood.

"She said that you'd find that funny," Jensen said with a wistful smile. “Luckily for her, I’d help her save some face during class. I’d make her projects for her. In the end she stopped going. Said there was no point in doing something she didn’t get any joy out of.” There was a wistful expression on Jensen’s face, as if there was more to the story that he didn’t want to divulge.

“Wait, you made of all of these?” Jared gestures to the shelves. Jensen nods. If Jared's vision wasn't already off kilter, he would swear that Jensen was blushing. “They’re amazing, Jensen.”

Jensen tensed slightly, but he smiled. “Thank you.”

+

Jensen took him back to shore once they had finished tidying up. Jared was surprised to see that it was dark by the time they reached the house. It was almost like time had stopped while they were down in the ocean.

_Down in the ocean._

It should have sounded weird but…it didn’t. He was in the company of a _merman_ and…it wasn’t weird.

“You said that I was the only human you’ve taken your cave,” Jared asked later when he was huddled under a towel. He had a huge steaming mug of coffee in front of him and Jensen had his precious jar in his hands. Jared didn’t want to be around on the day when someone tried to pry that thing away from him. “Why is that?”

“Merpeople are – _were_ – old fashioned creatures,” Jensen said after a brief silence. “I had to be betrothed before I could bring anyone home and…I never found anyone.” Jared found it hard to believe that Jensen hadn’t found anyone in his three hundred odd years of living. He hadn’t known him long and he couldn’t imagine his life without him.

_Wait._

Jared froze as he realised what he’d just thought. Romantic notions aside, he really couldn’t imagine going back to that stuff office, sitting behind a desk and pretending that everything was okay. His Aunt wanted him to look after Jensen and…that was what was the most important. They had to look after each other.

“We’re not betrothed,” Jared murmured as he remembered that he’d asked a question.

Jensen huffed out a dry laugh. “Yeah, well. Losing someone kind of puts life into perspective. I’ve spent so long following custom and for what? I’m the last of my kind. There’s literally no one out there who cares.” There was so much pain and anguish in Jensen’s voice that Jared wanted to reach out and touch. He’d given Jensen his spare gym clothes to wear because he’d thrown out all the odd bits and pieces in the house out of anger. He didn’t admit that to Jensen though, didn’t want it to seem like he’d done it for some other reason. The jolt that went through him when he saw Jensen in his clothes wasn’t half as strong as the one that was going through him now. The one that said _comfort him, look after him_ , and hell if those three words would ever go away.

“I care,” he replied. “I feel close to her – through you – and I hope that you feel the same, and I…care about you outside of Jodie. We both lost someone and we’ve both been alone. Maybe we don’t have to be anymore.” It wasn’t the most eloquent way that Jared could have put things, but it was the most honest.

“Too many people have promised me that,” Jensen said. “And none of them are…they’re never the _one_.” Jared shifted closer to Jensen, hoping to at least other him some indirect comfort. Nothing heavy, just a simple _I’m here_.

“The one?” he queried.

Jensen turned to level that green gaze at him. “Why do you think that I’m the last of my kind? Do you think that some flesh eating virus took out the rest of them?” Ah, the sarcasm. It reminded Jared of Jodie a little, she could dish out sarcasm in bucket loads if you pissed her off enough. It was almost as if that piece of her was living on through Jensen and the thought made Jared smile slightly. It might not be the most endearing quality, but it was certainly one he could live with. That was if Jensen decided to stay. Jared looked at Jensen but didn’t respond. He knew conversational diversion tactics when he heard them.

“I’m sorry,” Jensen said apologetically once it became clear that Jared was not going to speak. “That was rude of me. I…pairs. Good things always come in pairs, right? That’s what Jodie used to say, and it was true of Merpeople. The rules were clear. We had to find a mate or we’d remain here forever. I…I’m the only one who didn’t find anyone. I watched my friends grow old and die together, my family and…I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Jared.”

“How are you supposed to know when you’ve met the one?” Jared asked. He didn’t know what else to say or how to help; all he wanted to do was everything in his power to make sure that Jensen no longer looked as if his entire world was ending.

“I don’t know. Like with most sacred things, not much was said about it,” Jensen explained. “I’m just supposed to _know_.” There was something familiar within the words, something that tugged at Jared’s conscience. Back during the months when Jensen hadn’t been there, and he’d been lost in a sea of grief and printouts from work he’d had these dreams. In them he’d seen a mermaid (or maybe, _man_ and really, why weren’t mermaids’ called mer _women_? _)_ tail that shined bright and blue, just like the ocean and he heard his Aunt’s voice telling him a story. _An adventure and love story all rolled into one_.

“Was my Aunt married to a mermai—man?” he asked Jensen suddenly. “Is that why my family ostracized her?” Jared’s family were a peculiar bunch. His mother hadn’t exactly frowned on Jared spending a lot of time with her sister but she never quite understood either. Whenever he came back from the day trips with Jodie, his mom would pester him with questions about what she’d done, what she was wearing, who she was with. Jodie laughed it off whenever Jared mentioned this to her, and merely remarked that people didn’t like it when others were different. It made them revaluate themselves too much.

“She bonded with one,” Jensen answered. “His name was Tom. He was one of the last, along with me. He got trapped in the ocean and I got a message from him, years after he sent it because we don’t exactly have UPS down there and it said…”

“ _Look after J; she’ll be lonely now that I’m gone_?” Jared guessed because he knew his Aunt. She’d been wholly and unapologetically sentimental, which is why he knew that she’d left him this house for a reason.

“Yeah,” Jensen said. “How did you know?” He chewed his bottom lip slightly and Jared’s eyes were drawn to his mouth. After staring for a minute too long, he looked back up and shrugged.

“Lucky guess,” he said. “Hey, do you think that means that we…are… _you know_? When you…when you left I felt lost apart from right in the morning, when it was still dark and late at night when it was quiet enough for me to hear myself breathe. It was like someone was watching over me and I thought it was Aunt Jodie but…”

“It was me,” Jensen breathed, looking surprised at his own words. “Those were the times when I came to check on you. God, it must be…How do you feel right now?” Jared wasn’t expecting the question but he took the time to think about the answer anyway. He felt… _calm_ and completely at odds with how he felt yesterday – the ‘bad day’ – with Jensen right next to him, he felt at peace, and safe in a way that he hadn’t over the past two months.

“Like you’re the only thing keeping me afloat,” Jared confessed. “It…it was horrible when you left. Not just because of my Aunt, or because you were the last person to see her, but because you threatened to slap me with your tail and you sniffed coffee and I missed that. That’s weird, right? I’d only known you for a day!” Jensen was silent and a quick glance revealed that there was pure, unadulterated shock on his face and whatever was going on inside of his head happened, action potentials firing and setting off motions and thoughts.

“Jensen, are you okay?” Once the quiet grew too much to bear, Jared was forced to say something before it drowned them both.

“I…I feel the same way,” Jensen whispered. “Although it was worse because I had to come and see you every day. It was all that would be on my mind unless I came to see you for myself. I couldn’t eat or sleep until I’d come to check on you, see that you ere okay. I…she must have known. Jodie must have known all along.”

“Known what?” Jared asked softly.

Jensen at him, fierce determination lit up his green eyes and it was like the exposed skin on his arms was shimmering slightly. “That you’re the _one_.”

+

When Jensen kissed him for the first time, the coloured spots in his eyes shone so brightlythat he almost passed out, and it took the warmth and safety of strong arms to keep him steady. Despite the fact that he was dizzy and almost breathless, he initiated another kiss, making an unhappy noise when Jensen finally pulled away. It’d been a week since he’d been to Jensen’s home; a week since they realised that Jared was Jensen’s mate, or _one_ or whatever the hell they were calling it these days.

Neither of them cared.

Not when Jared was running his fingers across the smooth scales on Jensen’s tail as they tread water, or when Jensen was nibbling at Jared’s lips and kissing him like he was his personal oxygen supply.

It felt right - the weight of Jensen’s hand in his, the taste of Jensen’s lips and the scent of his skin. _They_ felt right.

~

It almost wasn’t a surprise when the letter came, but it hit them like a cannonball, and grief reared its ugly head again as sadness loomed over them.

_Dear Jared and Jensen,_

_It’s Jodie here and if you’re reading this, I’m probably dead. Ha! Sorry, I know that isn’t funny, but I’ve always wanted to start a letter off in that manner. Forgive me. If I am dead, then I know that you got the note, Jared and I left you one too, Jensen._

_I hope that you’re friends, if not more by now because I know that Jensen was lonely, and I know that you are too, Jared. You were aimless and trapped in that horrible office and that’s not you. That’s not what you ever wanted to be. When you were a boy, you told me that you wanted to sail the depths of the ocean. Maybe you can finally realise that dream._

_And Jensen, I know that we spent days discussing your missing piece. When I said, ‘you’d love my nephew, Jared. He’s a sweet kid’ I meant it literally, but I know that you wouldn’t have believed me until he was right in front of you, so I did what I needed to. I used to think it was so morbid, you wanting your soulmate so badly when the alternative was living forever but then I remembered Tom, and how lost I feel without him and I got it. I hope Jared is who you’ve been looking for. Please don’t scare him away with that razor sharped wit of yours – he’ll only blame me for influencing you!_

_I really do wish that you kids make it and live the life I never got to lead with Tom. I love the two of you very much, and please tell James how much I love him and slap some sense into him if he feels guilty. I’ve never been anything but proud of him._

_Lots of love_

_J_

_P.S. Look after each other!_

_~_

“She writes just like she speaks,” Jensen remarked when he was finished reading it. They were in the pool, floating in the water peacefully as Jensen’s tail swished in the water gently. “God bless her soul.” He sounded wistful but not in an overly sad way. There was almost closure in his tone and Jared wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Some days he was fine and sometimes he woke up, desperate to speak to his Aunt Jodie.

“I miss her,” he admitted, sighing sadly when Jensen pulled him closer and tucked Jared under his arm, rubbing his hand on his shoulder in soothing circles. “But the fact that you’re here makes it better.” It wasn’t an easy relationship, especially given how it had arisen, but the physical attraction was there, he liked the merman’s company and…nothing compared to the lightness and freeness he felt when Jensen was around. There were days when he felt as though he couldn’t breathe and the taste of Jensen’s lips would make it go away, the warmth of his touch would eviscerate the cold.

“We both miss her,” Jensen said quietly. “And losing her won’t ever be easy or pain free but…we’ve got each other. At least for a while, I…you might be….work.” Jared couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at Jensen’s uncharacteristic nervousness. They hadn’t discussed whether or not Jared was staying or anything really. They’d been too busy getting used to each other, but as amazing as that was, Jared didn’t want to leave Jensen in limbo.

“Like I’d be able to leave,” he replied with a soft smile. “I’ve grown rather fond of your tail.” It was a ridiculous thing to say, completely and utterly ridiculous but it was _them_ and Jared was all in. He wasn’t going anywhere. If his boss wasn’t going to let him work from the beach house, he could suck it. Jared was done stuffing himself into an office every day for twelve hours.

“It’s not too late for me to slap you with it,” Jensen teased, knowing that Jared would be able to see the happy glint in his eyes.

“You’d never hurt me, you asshole,” Jared laughed. “You love me too much.”

Jensen used his tail to kick up a huge wave of water that landed on Jared, cackling with glee as he watched his handiwork. “I love you _that_ much.” Jared spluttered slightly as the water ran off his face and down onto his body yet e grinned despite himself. It was good to see Jensen in such high spirits so he’d have to come up with some sort of payback later.

In this moment, all he wanted to do was to kiss his cranky, sarcastic, smoking hot _merman boyfriend_.

So he did.

**_Fin_ **


End file.
